Market Buzz
Monday newspaper round-up: Brexit, estate agents, Prudential, motoring
Britain will not slash taxes and regulations after Brexit to undercut European rivals, Philip Hammond has said. In a marked softening of tone, the chancellor said that Britain’s social, economic and cultural model would remain “recognisably European” after it left the EU. - The Times.
Friday newspaper round-up: Sports Direct, Amazon, Branson
Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct has increased its stake in French Connection to 27%, taking it close to a level at which it must launch a takeover bid. Sports Direct has bought out activist investors, including Gatemore Capital Management – a London-based hedge fund that had an 8% stake – and OTK, an investment firm that owned about 7%, to add to an existing 11% stake. – Guardian.
Thursday newspaper round-up: Housing market, car makers, Facebook, retailers
Ten years on the housing market is still feeling the after-effects of the credit crunch, with existing homeowners struggling to trade up, a doubling of typical first-time buyer deposits, and a “huge gap” between London and the rest of Britain, according to a new report. Property company Savills has found that the global financial crisis – which it considers to have started on 9 August 2007, when the French bank BNP Paribas froze three investment funds – is “still shaping the UK housing market” and will continue to cast its shadow over the sector for years to come.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Cars, tax havens, Metro Bank, Unilever
As part of a government strategy to improve air quality, Britain is to ban all new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2040 amid fears that rising levels of nitrogen oxide pose a major risk to public health. The commitment, which follows a similar pledge in France, is part of the government’s much-anticipated clean air plan, which has been at the heart of a protracted high court legal battle. - Guardian.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Consumer credit, oil, housing, Love Island
The Bank of England has told banks, credit card companies and car loan providers that they risk fresh action against reckless lending as it warned of a looming “spiral of complacency” about mounting consumer debt. In its toughest warning yet about the possibility of a rerun of the financial crisis that devastated the economy 10 years ago, Threadneedle Street admitted it was alarmed about the increase in the amount of money being borrowed on easy terms over the past year.
Monday newspaper round-up: Opec, profit warnings, British Gas, banks
Ministers from some of the world’s leading oil-producing nations are due to meet in St Petersburg today, amid mounting concern that an international deal to bolster crude prices may be at risk of unravelling. The meeting in the Russian city comes amid growing evidence that some members of the Opec club of 14 exporters have ceased complying fully with a deal brokered eight months ago aimed at reducing world oil supplies by 1. 2 million barrels per day. - The Times.
Sunday newspaper round-up: Asda, B&M, Greece, Brexit
Asda is exploring a £4. 4bn takeover of B&M, the fast-growing discount retailer run by billionaire brothers Simon and Bobby Arora. Britain’s third-biggest supermarket chain is understood to be in the early stages of assessing a bid for B&M, which is chaired by the former Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy. - The Sunday Times.
Sunday newspaper round-up: Asda, B&M, Greece, Bowling, Brexit
Asda is exploring a £4. 4bn takeover of B&M, the fast-growing discount retailer run by billionaire brothers Simon and Bobby Arora. Britain’s third-biggest supermarket chain is understood to be in the early stages of assessing a bid for B&M, which is chaired by the former Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy. - The Sunday Times.
Friday newspaper round-up: Turkey, Transitional deal, Unilever
A powerful earthquake has struck off the Turkish coast, triggering a tsunami in the Mediterranean and Aegean and killing at least two. Beachfront hotels full of British holidaymakers were flooded in the coastal city of Marmaris, while the effects of the 6. 7 magnitude quake were also felt on islands such as Crete and Rhodes. - The Daily Mail.
Thursday newspaper round-up: BHP Billiton, Northern Trust, Royal Mail, Ofwat
Executives inside Deutsche Bank, Donald Trump’s personal bankers, are expecting that the bank will soon be receiving subpoenas or other requests for information from Robert Mueller, the special counsel who is investigating possible collusion between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign. A person close to the matter who spoke to the Guardian on the condition of anonymity said that Mueller’s team and the bank have already established informal contact in connection to the federal investigation.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Brexit bill, BP, ONS leak, Ecuador, card charges
Divisions over the UK’s Brexit divorce bill were laid bare on Tuesday as British negotiators pushed back against a mooted €75bn (£66bn) Brexit charge-sheet. On the second day of detailed Brexit negotiations, the British team peppered the Brussels side with questions over how to pay for unwinding 44 years of the UK’s European Union membership, after the government admitted in parliament last week it has financial “obligations” from its EU membership. - Guardian.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Growth concerns, China, insurance, autumn coup
Rising prices and weak wage growth are already hitting the economy as British households are forced to cut back spending, analysts at PwC have warned as they forecast economic growth will slow to 1. 5% this year from 1. 8% in 2016. Falls in the pound over the past year have pushed up the cost of imported goods such as food and petrol, while wages have failed to maintain pace – though steady falls in unemployment have helped to cushion the blow. - Telegraph.
Monday newspaper round-up: Business confidence, CPI forecast, HSBC, railways
The UK needs to prepare itself for weaker economic performance, two major forecasting groups have said, in the latest studies predicting the downsides of the Brexit vote. Fragile business sentiment linked to Brexit-related anxiety, domestic political uncertainty and squeezed consumer budgets have caused UK business confidence to drop to its lowest point for almost six years, the economic consultancy IHS Markit reports. - Guardian.
Sunday newspaper round-up: Austerity spat, post-Brexit trade, lipstick effect, Barclays
Philip Hammond has declared that public-sector workers are “overpaid”, as a bitter cabinet war erupted over austerity. At a heated cabinet meeting, the chancellor refused to lift the 1% cap on wages for public-sector workers on the grounds that they earn more than those in the private sector, along with generous taxpayer-funded pensions. - Sunday Times.
Friday newspaper round-up: Sky, Philip Morris, Saudi Aramco
Rupert Murdoch will not look to strike a deal with the culture secretary, Karen Bradley, to make Sky News more independent and fast-track his £11. 7bn takeover of Sky. Bradley has given 21st Century Fox, which is controlled by Rupert Murdoch and his sons Lachlan and James, until Friday to offer further concessions to attempt to prevent the deal being referred to the Competition Markets Authority for further scrutiny. - Guardian.
Thursday newspaper round-up: McCafferty, RICS, Chocolate Orange, austerity
The Bank of England should consider unwinding its £435 billion quantitative easing programme earlier than planned, one of its eight policymakers has suggested. Ian McCafferty, one of three rate-setters who voted for an increase last month, said that the Bank ought to review its policy of leaving QE unchanged until interest rates are close to 2 per cent. - The Times.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Amec Foster Wheeler, British economy, Cashless society
Amec Foster Wheeler has been put under formal investigation by the Serious Fraud Office as part of a bribery and corruption investigation casting fresh doubts over its proposed £2. 2 billion merger with Wood Group. In a statement to investors after the market had closed, Amec said that it had been told by the SFO that an investigation had been opened into the “past use of third parties and possible bribery and corruption and related offences”. - The Times.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: G4S, tax avoidance, employment review
Critics have raised questions over a Ministry of Justice decision to award the private security firm G4S a £25m contract for the electronic tagging of offenders despite an ongoing Serious Fraud Office investigation. The initial three-year Ministry of Justice contract – with options to run until 2023 – is to provide the equipment used to enforce home curfews on convicted offenders and released prisoners, including a minority of “next generation” GPS satellite tracking tags.
Monday newspaper round-up: Business confidence, Visa, Brexit, 5G auction, tax
Confidence among both large and small businesses has collapsed amid mounting concerns over the domestic political backdrop and fresh evidence that households, the engine of recent economic growth, are tightening their belts. A series of business and household surveys have raised concerns that the UK may be performing as poorly as it was at the start of the year, when the economy grew by only 0. 2 per cent in three months. - The Times.
Friday newspaper round-up: Brexit brakes, 'lame' May, flat oil, Centrica
David Davis will be confronted by business leaders on Friday demanding an indefinite delay in Britain’s departure from the Single Market and the Customs Union. The Brexit Secretary has invited some of Britain’s most senior executives to his grace-and-favour residence at Chevening in Kent for an informal summit. - Telegraph.